The California Chaparral Institute is an association of scientists, naturalists, and educators who value the chaparral as both a valuable resource and a place to enjoy the wilderness.
The California Chaparral Institute promotes an understanding and respect for the chaparral and the Mediterranean climate in which most Californians live in order to:
* Encourage an active interest in learning about the chaparral, the organisms living there, its evolutionary development, and the dynamic relationship it has with fire
*Facilitate better communication between the scientific and firefighting communities
* Develop wildland and growth management policies that will lower the risk of fire crossing over the wildland/urban interface
* Help save lives and homes from wildfire through continuing education efforts
* Permanently secure the value of protecting chaparral as an important natural resource in public policy for the benefit of future generations
* Foster a reconnection to the natural environment